Mother Clucker: Chicken Breasts with Mustard-Cream Sauce

by Undercover Caterer on November 5, 2009

Chicken breasts. Boring old chicken breasts. How does one give them some pizzazz, some oomph, some zing? Well, don’t overcook them for one thing, but a nice sauce works too. Here’s a blueprint for a sauce you can make with whatever you’ve got laying around.

You’ll need chicken breasts, flour, salt, pepper, shallot or onion, mustard, chicken stock, milk or cream and something acidic, like dry white wine, lemon juice or what I used this time–verjus.

First, flatten your chicken breasts. Cut them in half horizontally and pound between sheets of plastic. Season a cup or two of flour with salt and pepper and dredge the chicken lightly.

Set aside while you heat some fat in a pan and chop your shallot.

Saute over high heat for just a minute per side. The cutlets are very thin so they won’t take long to cook. Heat the oven to 250* and place a sheet pan inside.

As your cutlets cook, place them on the sheet pan in the oven.

Chop some herbs. Whatever you have is fine. Set aside.

When the chicken is all cooked, add the chopped shallots to the pan and saute until soft.

Add a cup of chicken broth.

Here’s that verjus I mentioned earlier. I like to cook with this stuff but I don’t see it at stores very often. I bought this at a winery. The funny thing is, we tasted all their wines and didn’t really care for them but we did buy verjus.

Anyway, now’s when you want to add whatever acidic liquid you want to use. About a half-cup should do, maybe a bit less if you’re using lemon juice.

Bring to a boil and let reduce.

Add about a Tbsp of mustard–Dijon or whatever you’ve got. Probably not ballpark, though.

Add about a half-cup of milk or cream.

Bring back to a boil.

Let boil until thickened. Add the herbs. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.

Plate the chicken and spoon sauce over.

Dig in! It’s delicious.

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Chicken Breasts with Mustard-Cream Sauce

4 chicken breast halves, sliced horizontally into cutlets and pounded to 1/2″ thickness
1 cup flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
2 Tbsp oil or bacon fat
1 large shallot, or 1/2 a small onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped herbs
1 Tbsp Dijon or other mustard
1/2 cup of dry white wine, verjus OR the juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup cream, half and half or milk

Preheat the oven to 250* and place a sheet pan inside. Heat the oil or fat in a large saute pan over medium-high heat.

Lightly dredge the chicken breasts with the seasoned flour. Quickly saute the chicken for a minute or two on each side until browned. They will cook through fast. Place them in the oven on the sheet pan in a single layer. Keep cooking chicken in batches until all the cutlets are cooked.

Add a Tbsp more oil or fat to the pan if needed. Add the shallots and cook until soft. Add the chicken broth and the wine, verjus or lemon juice. Bring to a boil and let cook until reduced by half.
Add the mustard and the cream or milk, and whisk through. Bring the sauce back to a boil until thickened. Add the herbs, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Place the chicken on a platter and spoon sauce over. Serves 6 normal people but only 4 if you have 2 ravenous teenaged sons.

Mother Clucker: Chicken Breasts with Mustard-Cream Sauce

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